Pre-Silicon Validation Engineer

Job Title

Pre-Silicon Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Work on emulation and FPGA-based validation for complex SoC/ASIC designs, supporting early hardware/software co-validation and system-level debug. Collaborate with RTL, verification, architecture, and software teams to deploy and maintain emulation/prototyping environments and verification infrastructure.

Note: This position is not eligible for Qualcomm immigration sponsorship.

Experience Level

Entry-level / Early-career — guidance indicates approximately 0–2+ years of relevant experience (junior-level responsibilities with opportunity to perform senior-level tasks).

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include building and operating emulation and prototyping platforms, enabling HW/SW co-validation, and diagnosing system issues.

• Develop, deploy, and maintain ASIC/FPGA emulation and prototyping environments for SoC designs.
• Port RTL to industry emulation platforms and FPGA prototyping systems.
• Create testbenches, transactors, and verification infrastructure using SystemVerilog and C/C++.
• Perform RTL debugging, waveform analysis, signal tracing, and root-cause identification in emulation environments.
• Write automation and regression scripts to improve execution and debug efficiency (Python, shell).
• Work with design teams to optimize designs for emulation performance and resource use.
• Apply AI-assisted tools and automation to accelerate verification, debug, and data analysis.
• Produce technical documentation and present results to cross-functional teams.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience; preferred items listed separately.

• Proficiency in SystemVerilog for verification.
• Proficient in C/C++ and comfortable in Linux with shell scripting.
• Python for automation, regression orchestration, and debug tooling.
• Experience with ASIC and FPGA emulation/prototyping platforms and RTL debugging.
• Familiarity with SoC architectures, bus protocols, and hardware/software interactions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; experience diagnosing functional and performance issues.

Nice-to-have / preferred:

• Experience with Cadence Palladium, Siemens Veloce, Synopsys ZeBu, or similar emulation platforms.
• FPGA implementation experience with Xilinx or Intel toolflows.
• Knowledge of high-speed interfaces (PCIe, CXL, DDR, Ethernet) and cloud-based compute/regression infrastructure.
• Exposure to AI/ML tools applied to verification and engineering productivity.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is specified (minimum qualification: Bachelor's in Science, Engineering, or related field).

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.